New changes to Sadler lunch take-out are difficult for students to digest

If you’ve ever eaten at the Sadler Dining Hall for lunch, you know the drill. Swipe in, keep your elbows close, and sprint for the shortest line. Split your lunch party into two groups — one to find an open seating area, the other to head for the drinks. It’s a battle, and when it comes to food, there are literally no limits as to what students will do for a coffee-cup of ice cream.

Dining Services is waving a white flag these days. Take-out in Lodge 1? What is this blasphemy? There’s no way Dining Services can have the same array of food squeezed into Lodge 1 as in the airy upstairs war zone. That’s my first complaint: There aren’t enough options.

Complaint number two: When I have a meal, I invariably feel the need to quench my thirst. Sometimes I go for some calcium-rich milk; sometimes I like my Fierce Grape Gatorade. If I do take-out at Sadler I have two choices: water or lemonade. What an outrage — lemonade and water do not complement every meal. Soup and lemonade does not sound particularly appetizing.

Complaint number three, and perhaps the biggest of all: We live in the tidewater region of Virginia, a state of constantly confusing weather. When the days get hot, I like to cool off and relax with a well-portioned coffee-cup of vanilla ice cream — preferably with Oreo crumbles and a cherry. With this new take-out system and the limited food options, I have no guarantee of my ice cream.

That’s where I draw the line. I can deal with Lodge 1; I could even live with the lemonade. But I cannot — will not — live without my ice cream. Ice cream is the highlight of too many students, a break from the grind of Earl Gregg Swem Library and a reprieve from the monotony of Morton Hall. It sprinkles a bit of flair into Mondays and adds a cherry twist to Thursdays.

Dining Services certainly means well. They say they are trying to help the students by going the extra mile to accommodate our needs. What Dining Services does not realize is that we are creatures of habit, well-trained to navigate the crowds of Sadler. We have grown accustomed to the prize — ice cream in a coffee cup.

Vanilla, chocolate and that tantalizing swirl of both flavors, that is what I will always remember about dining at the College of William and Mary. Not the night when they had chicken tenders or the morning when they served Dunkin’ Donuts, but the coffee cup ice cream.